Slain Teen's Brother Not Giving Up

Published June 29th, 2011

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It's a promise to find a killer.

"That is the closure...he's dead. There's nothing that we can do to bring him back but I promised him... that's it, that's what it's about...it's about filling that promise," said Boris Ochsenius, the brother of Sebastian Ochsenius, 16, who was shot and killed a year ago today.

"It's about shedding light to this again, and making sure that we take care of it, and we find who did this to him," he said.

Deputies say the trail to Sebastian's killer is close to growing cold.

"We did a great deal initially and followed up on every piece of information that we had to the level that it could be followed and then it kind of stalled out," said Sheriff Sadie Darnell.

Although his killer has not been found, the paint honoring Sebastian Ochsenius is just as bright now as it was when it first touched the 34th street wall in Gainesville a year ago, but according to Sebastian's family, what has faded since his murder is their relationship with detectives working the case.

"The communication shut down that occurred within two months of my brother's murder was insane," said Ochsenius.

He says his family has been in the dark.

"I'm not asking for them to help me hold the sign during the fundraiser that we're going to be doing today, I'm not asking for them to be passing out flyers, I'm asking them to communicate," he said.

"If someone has not been in regular contact with him then I'm disappointed in our level of service also," said Darnell.

Darnell says deputies resources are limited, but if calls are not being made to the family that will be corrected.

"A lot of times it's nothing more than me calling you as the detective and saying 'no new information' and calling again two weeks later and again saying 'no new information but I'm still working on it,'" she said.

"I always let my brother know how I felt about him, is what's gotten me through this, that and my son is what helped me get through this year so far," he said.

After our interview Sheriff Darnell called back saying the detective has been in touch with Boris Ochsenius Jr, but he says that didn't take place until this afternoon, when detective Sandra Meyers called to set up a meeting.